My copy came yesterday as well. I would agree with Roger, another excellent issue. I've only read a couple of articles so far, but really liked Giles Barnabe's article on the Dursley branch (together with colour trackplans) and the article on the lines serving Newhaven Breakwater is interesting.
Well done Chris & Team

Mine arrived today. A wide-ranging set of articles, though the SP's method of conveying cars looks fraught with danger. How did they get them to stick to the boxcar doors with the jolting of door closing and motion en-route, I wonder? Surely by the 1970s there must have been safer ways to transport automobiles. Also like the Terrier profile; the picture of 643 was interesting as it appeared to be painted Marsh Umber, but I thought Terriers didn't receive their numbers in the 600s until SR days. Whatever, the driver was turned out very smartly, as was the fireman, albeit in more workaday clothing - a good look to copy for a period loco crew. I also enjoyed Graham's latest instalment from Moldavia. Perhaps we shall see a layout one day and see the country for ourselves.

Ref the Terrier Nos: According to the Haresnape book the non-scrapped locos appear to have been re-numbered with a 6 prefix around 1909. We tend to think of the A1s as very useful little engines, but the LBSCR were ready to scrap the whole class in 1901 as they could see no further use for them besides their London commuter train workings for which they were now woefully underpowered. It was really only the realisation that that they were saleable to industry that saved them, plus the limited use for coastway PP motor trains.

Many thanks for the Terrier numbering update, Chris. Shows the dangers of relying on (partial) information available online. I did some brief research on the market for second-hand Terriers when trying to identify a suitable number for one sold, or else on loan, to a fictitious light railway.

Apparently the first that went for scrapping fetched £125 apiece, so you can see how the penny dropped when LB&SC managed to screw £1250 each for three more sold to the Admiralty! RN only kept one, long term (at Chatham), and the others went to Scotland to work for whisky distillers (who perhaps were not inclined to pay more than they had to). A few years later they were sold on again for about £470. The going rate pre-WW1 seems to have levelled off at about £500-600 for a good specimen for light railway use, and this had risen to £700-800 in the inter-war period. By this time the Southern were buying up some unused examples for spares for the survivors they still owned.

Giles, there's at least another couple of articles in the pipeline about the Railways of Molvania, one of which will feature a map of the system and possibly the beginnings of a small layout.
I've been thinking about building several 'micro layouts' each featuring a different aspect of the Molvanian State Railways, rather like Bob Hughes has done with his FCPyF. Each would be a self contained 'operating diorama', with the possibility of being joined together for exhibition purposes. Lack of space (and money) prevents me from having anything more than that at home!
The first module is most likely to be Lutenblag Wagon Works, which would enable me to display my growing collection of stock and also do some shunting.

It is very early days. We have hit the ground running and people have been more than generous in passing articles through. What has happened as you quite rightly point out is that I have a mountain of NG stuff available. This is now levelling out: No 3 will have USA articles by Jordan Foster and Chris Ellis in HO and O gauges but I do need more of this type.

I think it's fair to say that Chris Ellis was coping with a few moans about recycled material towards the end of MTI and of course one of the reasons was lack of outside input. He more than most recognises the issue and has already been writing for the new mag.

If you feel you have an article in you please get in touch. I'm particularly looking for Non-British subjects particularly German and the USA. It doesn't have to be epic in length, even a couple of captioned photos would be useful.

My thanks to those who have supported the project thus far - it's much appreciated.

I watch from the sidelines with interest. Unfortunately as it has been the holiday season there have not been the exhibition to go to where there might have bee a chance to see an actual copy of the magazine.

There was a lot of negativity when Colin first proposed the new magazine. OK, Paypal might be too expensive, but it cut off some potential customers, but having a simple form to print off would not only have made it look more official, but made the accounting and book keeping a lot easier. All those different pieces of paper to file away.

I have no problem paying by cheque, but when someone comes on a forum(no previous messages posted as far as I can tell) and starts asking for money for a new project, it rings alarm bells. Many here might know Colin. I do not remember seeing the name before.
I do remember at least 2 magazines a few years ago, which started about the time Chris was having rug pulled from under him. One was Practical Model Railways(or title like that) and the other was Model Railway Enthusiast(?). Both promised much, but died after a few issues.

Thing is, what has been offered as friendly helpful advise has been thrown back in the face, and that is a shame. I wish this project a happy future, but just a bit more positivity.

And I also have a long list of potential articles, some British some not. I am happy to share them with various magazines. One problem I had with MTI was the b/w photos as some of my photos did not come out as well as hoped._________________Simon Dawson
Will try anything once, looking for the ultimate easy to set up portable exhibition layout, preferably French narrow gauge and with lots going on, not necessary on the rails.

I've been thinking about building several 'micro layouts' each featuring a different aspect of the Molvanian State Railways, rather like Bob Hughes has done with his FCPyF. Each would be a self contained 'operating diorama', with the possibility of being joined together for exhibition purposes.

The FCPyF developed from an exhibition layout owned by a few members of an on line group (Cheshire Railway Modellers). We used a system we invented to enable the modules to fit together in any order with very little accuracy required. This system was first used with a OO layout, eight modules went together in under an hour when setting up at their first show despite most of our members not even having met, let alone tried putting the layout together beforehand.

I'm sure I've explained it in the past, but the pictures will have been lost when I ditched the Photobucket account they were in, so I'll repost if you're interested in copying the method Graham._________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

Ah, but there you have it. There are specifications, which are specific.

The CRM system allows more leeway. It can cope with slight height differences, either by packing the modules up on the tables or just by the flexibility of the link sections. There does not need to be a set distance from baseboard edge to track centre, this is accommodated for by the positioning of the modules on the tables. The only down side is that it needs tables, all of the same height, but we had no problems assembling the layouts (OO and On30) on the tables we were provided with at shows and the FCPyF now lives on a shelf built in my garage.

The system was developed to be fool-proof, so that even people like me with no woodworking skills worth talking of could build modules that would fit together with anyone else's, even if their carpentry was as bad as mine.

I have just posted a new page on my blog so that the photos are less likely to get lost this time.